My Tribute to the Landmark for Hungry Railroaders!UPDATED OCTOBER 6, 2007

The Original Howard Johnson's Ice Cream
Shop across the street from Wollaston Station!

A neat Howard Johnson's
menu from the original Wollaston,
Massachusetts location!

The Times Square Howard Johnsons -
Closed July 9, 2005 - To see more
HIT HERE!

You're probably wondering.....What is up with this tribute to Howard
Johnson's? As it turns out,
railroaders and railroading have many connections to "HOJO's" and the
great orange roof!

Besides that, I have my own connections with the "Orange Roof."
I spent the first seven years of my life living directly across
the street from the Howard Johnson's Restaurant in Jamaica Plain section
of Boston.

Shortly there after, I found myself intertwined with Hojo's, spending
summer vacations with my Family at Hojo Hotels, eating at many of the Hojo
restaurants throughout the East Coast.

When I first hired onto the railroad I found my way to Howard Johnson's
restaurants that were always conveniently located to places such as New
Haven Station and Southampton Street Railroad Yard.

The original
design for Howard Johnson's restaurant was based on the design of the old
Norfolk Downs Railroad Station on the Old Colony Rail Line in Quincy,
Massachusetts. Howard wanted his restaurants to have the same
"welcoming and warm feeling of a local community's train
station."

HOJO's founder,
Howard D. Johnson, based his then unique restaurant concept on that of the
famous Fred Harvey House eateries which were built along the route of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

In 1925, Howard D. Johnson, a
Quincy,
Massachusetts drug store owner, added a line of homemade, double butterfat
hand-dipped ice cream to attract customers. Ice cream drew long lines and
quickly, Johnson capitalized on the concept and opened a restaurant with three
flavors of ice cream, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry and a simple menu of hot
dogs and hamburgers.

Boston Conductor Moe Burke managed the Howard Johnson's in Leominster,
Massachusetts. He was later hired by the railroad after being referred by train
crews who ate at his restaurant.

Whether it be going for a late turkey dinner with my Southampton Street Yard
switcher crew at the former Howard Johnson's across from South Bay....Or heading
over to the waterfront New Haven, CT HOJO's on a Sunday
morning for a hearty
breakfast before returning to Boston on Amtrak #190, no matter where you went, HOJO's had an impact on the lives of many a railroader.